To think i should have lost some weight?

[Sunshinerainbowslollipops]

I am very overweight and for the last 2 weeks I've cut out sugar. This is massive for me as on a regular day I would eat a sharing bag of chocolate, biscuits, sweets on top of my usual meals. So now I am eating the same but minus the 1000s of calories of all the sugar treats. So, for example, a usual day will be -

Breakfast - wholemeal toast with cashew nut butter, banana
Lunch - 1x ham sandwich or a sausage roll, grapes
Dinner - sausage casserole, greek yoghurt and then fruit

Sometimes I've had pizza and unhealthy options but no different to my usual diet just minus all the snacks. Sometimes i was eating up to 2000 calories in sugar filled snacks.

I am sticking with it but its a but gutting not to see a massive difference. Ive lost 4 pounds but nothing this week. Surely it should be falling off given I am 4 stone overweight?

Thank you. My next goals will be to reduce carbs and up exercise then. Im not interested in losing loads of weight to look good I purely want to lose enough to be healthy again. I therefore want to make adjustments that I can and will stick to. I know I wont if i feel hungry all the time etc.

Is an great improvement yes, OP, but not really a diet as such as most people wouldn't be eating 2000 calories a day in sweets and chocolate.
Now that you've managed to cut that out, you can begin to focus on the sugar and fat content of the food you actually need to be eating.

Well done for cutting out a lot of sugar, but I’m afraid sausage rolls and pizza are refined carbs & pack in a lot of calories. I need to eat around 1200 to lose weight (it’s boring as hell but works). 2000 calories is a lot to eat in one day - work out your nasal metabolic rate and go from there if you haven’t already.

BAsal, not nasal!!

No way would I stick to 1200 calories a day as that would be a quality of life issue for me!! I don't want / not aiming to be thin, just more healthy than I am now.

sunshine you are going to get lots of posts promoting diets that have worked for them. Which is fine, but you need to find your own. If you want to do calorie counting (which has always worked for me) then go on the link up thread, posted by PostNotInHaste and put your details in.

You need to know how many calories you, as an individual can eat.

Thank you, I will have a look at the link now.

Well done for giving up all the sweet stuff,keep it up and you'll loose your sweet tooth .4lb is a good start and a zero week is not bad.Just keep going and make small changes as you need them.
Good luck.

ALso, fat keeps you fuller for longer, but you need to eat ‘good’ fats in moderation like salmon, avocado, tuna, lower fat cheese, nuts (only a couple or so per day) - the non-saturated and def not trans fats!

That's fine, if you don't want to lose a lot of weight. But to lose some weight you will need to eat less, then your body needs. That doesn't mean you need to starve yourself though. Just eating a little but less than you need, and weight will start to come off.

Well done OP!!! That’s amazing.

I did give up sugar and go very very low carb due to gestational diabetes and I did lose a lot of weight over a 6 month period. But piled it back on (and then some) after pregnancy going back to old habits.

So I’m back on it and this time I’m exercising and controlling my diet. My diet could be a lot better but like you I want to have a ‘normal’ life without restricting everything - however when I exercise I soon regret any excess!

So reduce portion sizes and up the exercise is my advice

If you can afford it how about getting a personal trainer for a session a week for 1-2 months to get tips etc ?

Do you have your period by any chance? I find it hard to lose weight that week but once it’s over, I get a loss.

And I agree with Jane.

Good fats are good for you and keep you full. Ignore anything "low fat". It usually has a lot of sugar added and will mean you are hungry agai very soon.

Dont count calories. Do Whole30.

I would highly recommend using an app - I use Lose It and My Fitness Pal is similar. You have to put in everything you eat and all the exercise you do. It was a massive eye opener for me and stopped me being able to live in denial about how many calories were going in (an extra spoonful of mayo, an extra handful of cheese etc). It also shows really clearly the positive benefits of being active.

I've lost 4 and a half stone since March (when I had my baby) and I feel so much more in control and confident to make positive choices re food and exercise.

Can I just say? Cutting out all th biscuits, sweets etc IS a massive improvement in you diet.
Even if you are still eating the same the rest of the time, I can promise you that your body will thank you in the long run (even if yu don't loose weight) because you will have avoided so many spikes in your blood sugar level.

So please, DO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE DONE REALLY WELL TO GET THERE ALREADY.

Second, not everyone is changing their whole diet all in one go and able to stick to a totally and completely different diet from day 1, going from totally unhealthy to the best healthy diet ever.
Actually, ime, that's out of approach is more likely to fail with most people. It works for a bit, maybe a few weeks or months. But not in the long run (that's why people just out the weight they've lost back on),
So changing one very big thing like your snacks, waiting for things to settle down and then changing something else is often a better strategy in the long run.

Third, ime, to loose weight, you are better of looking at the type of food you eat rather than the calories. The blood sugar diet is a good one (there are others around). I suspect that's what is holding you back atm. Your diet still creates big peak of insulin, which is responsible for the body to lay fat. But please remember that this is about a life change (as if you had type 2 diabetes and wanted to control it through diet only - which is totally possible to do) not about changing your diet for a few months and then doing whatever you want afterwards.
With that in mind, see what is working best for you. Playing the long term game and introducing one change after the other. You'll see changes less quickly but they are more likely to last. Or changing a lot of things in one go, which will allow you to see more changes quickly but will you be able to sustain it long term (depends on your temperament really)?

You're clearly not going to lose weight when you're eating sausage, sandwiches, rolls, sugary snacks and pizza.

Restrict your carbs drastically or remove them all together and get your fibre from vegetables. Eat as much fruit veg and unprocessed meat as you want. Restrict dairy.

op you may have gone from gaining weight weekly to neutral? That would be one way to cut your calorie intake by a third and not lose weight....

Health is the important thing, not weight. Cutting out all that sugar will be doing you tremendous good and improving your health, even if it isn't leading to dramatic weight loss at the moment.

ps. of course it is possible to lose weight while eating pizza and sausage rolls.

Even calories in < calories out then you will lose weight. Doesn't matter if the calories came from a stack of salad or one small piece of pizza.

Lots of good advice on here, and some rather harsh comments IMO. Just wanted to say well done on such a positive change to your diet, I know how tough it is to cut out sugar like that. And you've lost 4lbs in 2-3 weeks? Pretty good start. Just keep on going! 🤛

Were you maintaining your weight on your previous diet, or gaining weight?

If you were gaining, then it's possible that your new diet has cut the calories down to maintaining now, or only a little bit below.

Either way, losing weight and KEEPING the weight off is about lifelong changes to your diet and attitudes to food. Worrying about changes that occur (or don't occur in this case) in one measly week is pointless. You need to think waaaay more long-term than that.

Hey sunshine!
It's hard but if you just get over this "hump" of weight loss, it'll be worth it, and you can eat a lot more varied foods/calories to maintain than lose.
I think you might have killed your gut flora health with all that sugar..in an experiement, scientists could make a rat obese JUST by getting rid of its good gut bacteria. Do a lot of fermented foods like sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, kombucha, etc.
and do some weight training,,muscle requires a lot of calories, and will help create a deficit.
Good luck!!

I didn't say you should eat 1200 calories a day. You need to know at which point you start to lose weight. 2,000 calories a day is maintaining your weight, so its too high; if you want to lose it you need to cut back on the foods and portion sizes that contain calories, and eat more vegetables and green salads.
Fats and sugars are comfort foods. They are rewarding to eat, you know that because you've talked about quality of life being linked to food.
Your body needs just under a gram of protein for each pound of bodyweight (about 50g a day), high quality fats for energy, and vegetables for bulk and micro nutrients. A small amount of complex carbs such as wholemeal bread gives extra energy, and yes, you take a step by step approach to get there.

Also, have you seen your GP and had a check up, and have you had them check any meds you are on?

You've made a huge and really positive change to your diet - well done.
Although you've not lost lots of weight yet, you've not put it on either.
Do you meal plan? You mention needing to grab something quick, and meal planning for a week at a time might help with that, and also might improve what you're eating now.
I agree with previous posters that your diet is still fairly carb heavy, so maybe look at reducing your carbs. Do you cook from scratch?

You've already made a massive and positive change. In the past I lost 6 stone by doing much as you've done - cutting out refined sugar and snacks but not fruit or all carbs - and it made all the difference. My weight loss was slow and steady.

I will say, though, that there was a lag at the beginning. It can take 6 weeks sometimes to have a real effect, so the fact you've lost 4lb already is brilliant.

Once my body got the hang of losing weight, it dropped slowly and steadily, between half a pound and a pound per week. I think this is the most sustainable way.